Car-coupling



' UNITED STATES PATENT Enron.

ELRA A. YOOUM AND MORTIMORE O. NICHOLS, OF MENDON, OHIO.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,274, dated October27, 1896. Application filed June 30,1896. Serial No. 697,582. (Nomodel.)

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ELRA A. YOOUM and MORTIMORE O. NICHOLS,0itiZens ofthe United States of America, residing at Mendon, in the county ofMercer and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and .usefulImprovements in Oar-Couplings; and we do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and toletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

In the practical use of car-couplings of the usual type it sometimeshappens that one of the draw-heads becomes broken or unfastened fromitscar, and uncoupling-"itself from the other draw-head will often resultin serious damage by falling upon the rails and causing a derailment ofthe cars.

Our invention is designed to prevent the draw-heads becoming uncoupledin an accident of this kind; and it consists in providing the draw-headswith chains which support or retain the loose draw-head in connectionwith the other, means also being provided for severing the chain thatextends from the pivoted latch to the operating device therefor, all aswill be hereinafter fully set forth, and particularly pointed out in theclaim.

In the accompanying drawings we have shown our invention applied to acar-coupling of the J anney type.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of thedraw-heads, the swinging head being open or in position for coupling.Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the draw-heads coupled, one of saiddrawheads being in horizontal section.

A designates the draw-head, which is constructed to present a cavity toreceive the locking-catch and is provided with a swinging head A,pivoted thereon and composed of the coupling-arm a and supplemental arma, the latter having a notch a at its lower end for the purposehereinafter set forth. The locking-latch B is pivoted within the cavityof the draw-head, resting upon the bottom thereof, and is provided witha vertical recess, presenting a shoulder 72, the free end of said catchbeing forced outward by a rod 0, of spring metal, depending from theupper part of the draw-head. An operatingchain cl is connected to thelocking-catch and extends therefrom through an opening in the upper partof the draw-head to an arm cl, projecting from a rock-shaft D.

The opening in the drawhead through which the operating-chain 01 passesis partly covered by a plate E, having V-shaped recesses, presenting apointed tongue 6, the edges of said tongue and adjoining edges of theplate being beveled or sharpened, so that should the draw-head becomeunfastened from its car the operating-chain d thereof would catch in theV-shaped recesses of the plate and be severed by the tension or pullingforce exerted thereon by the other car, said chain being therebyprevented from operating the locking-catch to uncouple the draw-heads. I

F designates a chain which is attached at its ends to opposite sides ofthe forward end of the draw-head and is of sufficient length so as notto interfere with the operation of the swinging heads when the cars cometogether.

When a draw-head becomes broken from its fastening devices, theoperation of our improvements is as follows: As the said drawhead fallsthe operating-chain (2 thereof will catch upon the plateE and beprevent-ed from operating the locking-catch, and as the pulling force isbrought upon said chain it will be severed, leaving the draw-head freefrom its car and supported in connection with the other draw-head bymeans of the chains F, which prevent a vertical movement of theunfastened draw-head. It will be noted that a downward movement of theunfastened drawhead is prevented by the chain F, carried by the otherdraw-head, while an upward movementis prevented by its own chain F. Itwill also be noted that the locking-catch cannot be operated to uncouplethe cars until the supplemental arm a of the swinging head is moved outof engagement with the shoulder I), this movement being effected whenthe draw-heads come together and the couplingarm to contacts with theadjoining draw-head, thus leaving said locking-catch free to be liftedabove the plane of the arm a. By having the shoulderb, which contactswith the end of the coupling-arm of theswinging head, this constructionprovides an additional precaution against the operation of thelockingcatch when the strain comes upon the chain.

The construction herein shown and described provides very efficientdevices for the purposes set forth, and it will be obvious that saidconstruction could be changed or modified without departing from ourinvention.

Having thus described. our invention, what we claim as new, and desireto secure byLetters Patent, is

1. In a car-coupling, the combination with the draw-heads each having alocking-catch and operating-chain extending therefrom, of

a plate having V- shaped recesses the edges of which are-beveledorsharpened, and chains F carried by the draw-heads, said chains beingadapted tosupport the draw-heads against vertical movement upon eachother, substantially as shown and for the purpose set forth.

2. Ina car-coupling, the combination, of the draw-head carrying aswinging head and having an opening in its top, a plate provided withcutting edges which partially overlie said opening, a locking-catchadapted to engage the swinginghead, and a chain attached to thelocking-catch and passed through the opening in the top of the draw-headto operating means; together with means for supporting the coupleddraw-heads against excessive vertical movement upon each other,substantially as shown and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a car-coupling, the combination with the draw-heads A, of alocking-catch recessed to present a shoulder b, a swinging head composedin part of a coupling-arm adapted to be engaged by said shoulder, anoperating-chain attached to the locking-catch, and a plate havingsharpened edges which engage the operating-chain; together with chains Fcarried by the draw-heads, said chains being adapted to support thedraw-heads against vertical movement upon each other, substantially asshown and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix; our signatures inpresence of twoWitnesses.

ELRA A. YOCUM. MORTIMORE O. NICHOLS.

Vitnesses:

A. H. BARBER, J. S. MURLIN.

